Electrical connection terminal arrangements of this kind, for instance in the form of connection terminals or terminal strips, enable contacting of the conductors by what is known as the slit blade insulation-piercing technique. This technique offers considerable advantages, especially in automatic production of wiring layouts for apparatus, such as fixtures or luminaires, because it requires no separate actuation of clamping devices such as screws or the like.
Besides connecting terminals for connecting conductors, it is also known to equip connection terminal arrangements for electrical apparatus with slit blade insulation-piercing contacts of this kind. One example is described in EP 002 099, Leidy et al. A housing made of insulating material is mounted on the lamination packet of a transformer, and a plurality of slit blade insulation-piercing contacts for conductor connection are located in the housing. Each of these slit blade insulation-piercing contacts is formed on an approximately U-shaped contact spring, which is provided with two insulation piercing slits on opposed sides, the dimensions of the slits being adapted for the connection of a winding wire on one side and a network supply line on the other. Basically, these are connecting clamps of two lines of different diameter, both of which are connected to the contact spring by the slit blade insulation-piercing technique.